There's an argument going on in FL, particularly with Florida schools trying to force reopening, about the cause of the recent CV spikes? In other words, who is to blame. The answer is obvious: Florida KNOWINGLY violated the CDC's gating guideline
In other words, DeSantis's plan back-fired
Here's the CDC's gating criteria for phase I
Here's the very first criteria in the CDC's gating for Phase I:
"Downward trajectory (or near-zero incidence) of documented cases over a
14-day period"
From the Florida Department of Health:
"Phase 1 of the Plan for Florida’s Recovery took effect May 4, 2020 and was updated May 11, 14 and 15, 2020."
So, that means that Florida would properly enter Phase I on May 4th if there was "downward trajectory (or near zero incidence" over a 14 day period when FL opened in Phase I on May 4, 2020
On May 3rd (as one example) there were 683 new cases, a similar number May 2nd, and I think over a 1000 case on May 1
CONFIRMED cases were rising since end of March
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DeSantis tried to get around the CDC by reopening on May 4 minus the three big counties, but even those counties enter Phase I with cases rising
He rationalized their non-compliance with the CDC by saying that the three counties (including Miami-Dade) had "flattened the curve"
"“Everyone knows there us a big difference between Miami-Dade and Broward counties,” he said. “This is a very diverse area.”
“Today we take another important step for a very important start for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, stating that southeast Florida “flattened the curve” and is ready to enter Phase 1."
which is a way of saying "I know we are violating the CDC gating, but we have enough beds for the sick people"
that claim is being tested right now
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(This is why you see Trump/DeSantis folks try to take issue with the science. If you ADMIT to running a red light the only defense is to say the red light was wrong. In other words, to try to justify DeSantis's decision (even though he did not at the time) by saying the CDC science was wrong. DeSantis didn't say that, he said he knew better. He said -- and its quoted above -- that Miami-Dade was okay to re-open because the curve was flattened, not because the 14 day period was wrong, scientifically.
(This is why Obama lamented that "we cannot even agree on facts," people just change or ignore the actual facts to suit their political views)
